Posted by Residents of areas affected by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, as well as those living in areas affected by the California wildfires, may have until January 31, 2018, to file their 2016 federal income tax returns.
Many taxpayers file a request for an extension of time to file their federal income tax returns. For 2016 returns, this extension request had to be filed by Monday, April 18, 2017. Normally, a taxpayer who filed a timely extension request for his or her 2016 federal income tax return had to file that return by October 16, 2017. However, the IRS has provided relief so that those living in affected areas who filed a timely extension request have until January 31, 2018, to file their 2016 returns. This relief is available to individuals and businesses anywhere in Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, as well as parts of California and Texas.
One complication is that the IRS e-file system shut down for 2016 returns beginning on Sunday, November 19, 2017. This means that a taxpayer in one of these affected areas who wishes to file a 2016 return after November 19 will have to file a paper return by mailing it to the IRS.
Note: individuals who filed a timely request for an extension of time to file their 2016 returns do not obtain any relief for tax payments related to the 2016 return because those payments were due on April 18, 2017.
For further details, see IRS News Releases IR-2017-160 (9/26/17) and IR-2017-172 (10/13/17).